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AMATEUR_NET

                                                  February  11, 2012
  What are the chances for
  a resurgence of amateur       We tend to assume that
  science?                      technical research is now
                                the provence of expensive
  We've seen the internet       equipment and hence big
  enable a number of            budget grants, but...
  large collaborative
  projects with widely                   Occasionally you see a researcher
  dispersed, volunteers:                 stretching a budget with some
                                         clever improvisation, e.g. crystal
  open source software,                  growth under microwave bombardment
  wikipedia...                           with an aparatus that uses a
                                         commercial microwave oven with
    In cases where the                   holes punched through the top and
    aparatus is relatively               bottom to jam additional apparatus
    cheap, and what's needed             inside it.
    is a large number of
    observations, it would               Hobbyists occasionally pull off
    seem that the amateur                interesting home-brew items like
    net could succeed.                   atomic force microscopes or
                                         fusion aparatus (sub-breakeven,
    I've heard it said                   of course).
    that bird-watchers
    are serious players                  The technical breakthroughs that
    in ornithology: the                  produce the mass-produced items
    professionals can't                  written about in the "technology
    be in every corner                   section" of newspapers generate
    of the world.                        a lot of cheap equipment that
                                         can be repurposed in interesting
    This has the same                    ways.
    problems of all such
    efforts with trust                        Computers.
    networks.                                 Low-power lasers.
                                              Cell phones.
                                              Digital Cameras.





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